Servant Leadership: Growing into the Future h Dr. Kent M. Keit

The Greenleaf Seminar
Servant Leadership:
Growing into the Future
Presented by
Dr. Kent M. Keith
CEO, Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership
Marylhurst University – March 22, 2012
© Copyright Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership 2012
1
Questions…
What was the “management theory”
context in which Greenleaf first articulated
his ideas about servant leadership?
 How do we define servant leadership?
 What makes servant leadership effective?
 What are the prospects for the growth of
servant leadership in the future?

2
The Modern Context
3
Robert K. Greenleaf
(1904-1990)
Worked for AT& T for 38 years; eventually
became Director of Management Research
 Launched the modern servant leadership
movement with his essay, The Servant as
Leader, published in 1970 after he retired
 Friend of Peter Drucker and acquaintance
of Douglas McGregor

4
Douglas McGregor
(1906-1964)




Professor of Management at Sloan School of
Management, MIT
President of Antioch College, 1948-54
Coined “Theory X” and “Theory Y” regarding
assumptions about people in the workplace
“Theory Y” was based on Abraham Maslow’s
“Humanistic School of Psychology”
5
The Human Side of
Enterprise (1960): Theory X



Most people dislike work and will avoid it if they
can.
Because they don’t like work, most people must
be coerced, controlled, or threatened with
punishment to get them to work toward the
achievement of organizational objectives.
Most people want to be directed, and want to
avoid responsibility. They have little ambition.
They just want to be secure.
6
Douglas McGregor:
Theory Y
Work is as natural as play or rest.
 The threat of punishment is not the only
way to get people to work.
 People will exercise self-direction and selfcontrol in working toward organizational
objectives when they are committed to
them.

7
Douglas McGregor:
Theory Y
 Commitment
to objectives is a function
of the rewards associated with their
achievement.
 Most people learn not only to accept but
to seek responsibility.
8
Theory Y
A lot of people have the capacity to exercise a
relatively high degree of imagination,
ingenuity, and creativity in solving
organizational problems.
 Under the conditions of modern industrial
life, the intellectual potential of most people
is only partially utilized.

9
Robert Greenleaf went
further than Theory Y
Greenleaf was invited by McGregor to teach
at MIT
 Greenleaf went further than Theory Y, urging
a pro-active focus on the growth of the
people within the organization.
 Greenleaf: A leader who accepts this would
say: “I am in the business of growing people.”

10
Defining the Servant-Leader
11
The Servant as Leader



Greenleaf’s classic essay, The Servant as Leader,
was published in 1970, ten years after
McGregor’s The Human Side of Enterprise
Known as “the orange book,” it has been read
by hundreds of thousands of people since 1970
Greenleaf’s 1977 collection of essays ranks high
even today on the Amazon.com list of mostread books on leadership (#15,000 all books)
12
Greenleaf’s definition
of the servant-leader (p.9)

The servant-leader is servant first… It
begins with the natural feeling that one
wants to serve, to serve first. Then
conscious choice brings one to aspire to
lead. That person is sharply different from
one who is leader first, perhaps because of
the need to assuage an unusual power drive
or to acquire material possessions…
13
Servant-first and other
people’s priorities
 The
difference manifests itself in
the care taken by the servant-first
to make sure that other people’s
highest priority needs are being
served.
14
The best test of a
servant-leader
 Do
those served grow as persons?
Do they, while being served, become
healthier, wiser, freer, more
autonomous, more likely
themselves to become servants?
15
Caring for the
least privileged
 And,
what is the effect on the least
privileged in society? Will they
benefit or at least not be further
deprived?
16
Greenleaf: Characteristics
of servant-leaders
 Most
important characteristic: the desire to
serve
 Listening and understanding; acceptance
and empathy; foresight; awareness;
persuasion; conceptualization; selfhealing; and rebuilding community.
17
Greenleaf: Characteristics
of servant-leaders
 Servant-leaders
initiate action, are goaloriented, are dreamers of great dreams,
are good communicators, are able to
withdraw and re-orient themselves, and
are dependable, trusted, creative,
intuitive, and situational.
18
Greenleaf on the ultimate
goal of servant leadership
Leaders become servant-leaders and help
their organizations to become servantinstitutions
 Servant-institutions focus on serving their
employees, customers, and communities
 The quality of our lives improves, and we live
in a more just and caring society

19
Larry Spears:
Ten characteristics

Larry Spears, the CEO of the Greenleaf
Center for 16 years, selected ten
characteristics of servant leadership:
 Listening, empathy, healing, awareness,
persuasion, conceptualization, foresight,
stewardship, commitment to the growth
of people, and building community
20
Bob Liden: Servant
leadership dimensions

Liden et al., article in The Leadership Quarterly
in 2008, identified nine servant leadership
dimensions:
 emotional healing, creating value for the
community, conceptual skills, empowering,
helping subordinates grow and succeed,
putting subordinates first, behaving
ethically, relationships, and servanthood.
21
Dirk van Dierendonck:
Six key characteristics

Professor, Erasmus University, Holland;
article in Journal of Management in 2010:
 Servant-leaders empower and develop
people; they show humility; are
authentic; accept people for who they
are; provide direction; and are stewards
who work for the good of the whole.
22
Laub: Organizational
Leadership Assessment

Dr. Jim Laub developed the Organizational
Leadership Assessment (OLA) to assess
organizational health based on six key areas
of effective organizational leadership:
 Display authenticity, value people, develop
people, build community, provide
leadership, share leadership
23
Servant Leadership
Compared with Other Ideas
24
Theories proposed
since Greenleaf (1970)

Transforming/Transformational
Leadership… Theory Z… Leader-Member
Exchange (LMX)… Ethical
Leadership…Level 5 Leadership…Authentic
Leadership… Adaptive Leadership…Spiritual
Leadership…Empowering Leadership…
Self-Sacrificing Leadership…
25
What is unique
to servant leadership

Based on the views of scholars, the elements
that are most unique to servant leadership
compared with other theories are
the moral component
 the focus on serving followers for their own good,
not just the good of the organization, and forming
long-term relationships with followers, encouraging
their growth and development so that over time they
may reach their fullest potential

26
What is unique
to servant leadership
 concern
with the success of all
stakeholders, broadly defined—employees,
customers, business partners, communities,
and society as a whole—including those
who are the least privileged; and
 self-reflection, as a counter to the leader’s
hubris.
27
Dirk van Dierendonck:
Comparing theories

Van Dierendonck studied seven leadership
theories that revealed the most overlap with
servant leadership:
 transformational leadership, authentic
leadership, ethical leadership, Level 5
leadership, empowering leadership,
spiritual leadership, and self-sacrificing
leadership.
28
Dirk van Dierendonck:
Comparing theories
Van Dierendonck concluded that none of the
seven theories incorporates all six
characteristics of servant leadership, which
puts servant leadership in a unique position.
 Additionally, servant leadership theory
distinctly specifies a combined motivation to
become a leader with a need to serve that is at
the foundation of these behaviors.

29
Greenleaf vs. Scholars
Greenleaf proposed a philosophy,
characteristics, and practices—not a theory
 Scholars study leaders and followers
 Greenleaf’s writings are about leaders who
work closely with their colleagues, deliver
services to their customers, and benefit
society at large
 LeadersColleaguesCustomersSociety

30
Servant Leadership Is Effective
31
What servant
leadership is not
It is not soft—the servant-leader can make
hard decisions (but the decisions are made
to serve others, not to gain personal power)
 It is not about a single style of leading– the
servant-leader uses whatever style is needed
to effectively address each person or
situation

32
Servant-leaders get
two kinds of results
They obtain the resources to continue and if
possible expand the work of the organization
(e.g., a profit or surplus)
This is an organizational need
 They serve their colleagues and customers,
and make the world a better place
This is the organization’s purpose

33

“High-commitment high-performance
CEOs understand that being part of an
enterprise that is helping to create a better
world unleashes the commitment and
energy of their people.”
 “The
Uncompromising Leader,” July-August
2008, by Eisenstat, Beer, Foote, Fredberg,
Norrgren
34
Key Practices of Servant-Leaders
Self-Awareness
 Listening
 Changing the pyramid
 Developing your colleagues
 Coaching, not controlling
 Unleashing the energy and intelligence of
others
 Foresight

35
Research on the Impacts of
Servant Leadership in the Workplace
36
Building strong teams
Servant-leaders gain team member trust and
build long-term relationships
 Servant-leaders promote open and problemdriven communication within the team
 Servant-leaders cultivate personal integrity,
and help team members to cooperate with
and care about each other

 Dr.
Robert Liden, University of Illinois at Chicago
37
Facilitating
effective teamwork
Servant-leaders facilitate team confidence,
affirming the strengths and potential of the
team and providing development support
 Servant-leaders facilitate effective team
behaviors

 Hu
& Liden, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2011
38
Enhancing performance
and commitment
Servant leadership may enhance both job
performance and commitment to the
organization
 Servant-leaders may inspire followers to take
an active role in serving the community in
which the organization is embedded

 Liden
, Wayne, Zhao & Henderson,
Leadership Quarterly, 2008
39
More helping and
creative employees

Empirical research has revealed that
employees of servant-leaders are more
helping and creative than those working
with leaders who scored lower on servant
leadership.
 Neubert,
Kacmar, Carlson, Chonko, &
Roberts, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2008
40
More organizational
citizenship behaviors

Servant-leader behaviors are related to
organizational justice (fairness in decisions
made regarding employees), which in turn
leads employees to reciprocate by engaging
in organizational citizenship behaviors
(OCBs).
 Ehrhart,
Personnel Psychology, 2004
41
Enhanced self-efficacy

Servant leadership encourages OCBs by
enhancing self-efficacy (people’s self
confidence in their ability to perform
specific tasks well), creating a service
climate at work, and establishing a fair
workplace.
 Walumbwa,
Hartnell & Oke, Journal of
Applied Psychology, 2010
42
Greater job satisfaction

Servant leadership has been shown to be
positively related to employee job
satisfaction
 Mayer,
Bardes & Piccolo, European Journal of
Work and Organizational Psychology, 2008.
43
Case study:
Nurse managers

In a study at a hospital, nurses who
perceived that their nurse managers had a
higher servant leadership orientation
demonstrated greater job satisfaction
 Jenkins
& Stewart, “The importance of a
servant leader orientation,” Health Care
Management Review, 2010
44
Back-of-the-Envelope Research
45
Better than Great
 Comparison
of “Good to Great”
companies with servant-led companies
 Ten year period ending in 2005
 500 largest companies = 10.8% return
 “Good to Great” = 17.5% return
 Servant-led companies = 24.2% return
46
Future Prospects for Growth
47
Negative Factors




Theory X and the power model of leadership are
still dominant in most cultures
Many people do not understand servant
leadership, or will not support or reward it
People in leadership positions may feel
threatened by servant leadership
Servant leadership is more effective in the long
run but takes an up-front commitment to invest
a lot of time and energy to grow people
48
Positive Factors
Servant-leaders get results in ways that serve
individuals, organizations, and society at large
 The emphasis on growing people is strategic
 Servant leadership may be preferred by many
millennials
 Servant leadership can work in many cultures
--it has a worldwide future

49
Creating Shared Value



Article by Michael Porter and Mark Kramer in
the January-February 2011 issue of HBR
Companies are widely perceived to be
prospering at the expense of the broader
community; their legitimacy has fallen
They should focus on “shared value”—creating
economic value in a way that also creates value
for society by addressing its needs/challenges
50
Growing people
is strategic
When people grow, the capacity of the
organization grows.
 When the capacity of the organization
grows, it can do things better, or do things
it was never able to do before.
 Individuals benefit, the organization
benefits, and those served benefit.

51
The Trophy Kids Grow
Up by Ron Alsop



92,000,000 milennials (born 1980-2001); larger
group than Gen X (62,000,000)
They don’t like an authoritarian, command-andcontrol style of management; they prefer
collaboration, teams
Status and hierarchy don’t impress them; they
want to be colleagues not subordinates
 Greenleaf: council of equals, inverted pyramid
52
The Trophy Kids Grow
Up by Ron Alsop


They want to be rewarded for performance, not
wait around for seniority; they want meritocracy
They will work hard if the task is engaging and
promises a tangible payoff; they want
meaningful work, to make a difference

Greenleaf ethic: the work exists for the person as
much as the person exists for the work; work
should be meaningful to those doing it
53
The Trophy Kids Grow
Up by Ron Alsop


They will change jobs often, to keep growing
They want more coaching, training, and
mentoring programs


Greenleaf: servant-leaders help their colleagues
grow; they coach, train, and mentor them
Milennials see their careers and personal lives as
one—not balancing but blending them
54
U.S. ethnic minority
attitudes toward leadership

In Salsa, Soul, and Spirit, Juana Bordas noted that
for many Hispanic Americans, AfricanAmericans, and Native Americans:
 Leadership positions belong to the
community, not the individual leader
 Leadership positions are not for personal gain
but for service to the larger community
 Leadership positions are rotated
55
Studies regarding Servant
Leadership in Other Countries
56
Public Sector
Leaders in China



Article by Han, Kakabadse & Kakabadse in
Journal of Management Development (2010)
Servant leadership seen as a way to help restore
employee’s trust, commitment and confidence in
management, as well as a way to attract and
retain high performance employees
Three sources for Chinese servant leadership:
Confucianism, Daoism, and communist ideology
57
Public Sector
Leaders in China



Confucian characteristics: courtesy, obedience,
respect to seniors, loyalty, moderation,
forgiveness, wisdom, benevolence
Daoist characteristics: vision, insight, wisdom,
serving the community, humility, leading by
example, empowering others
Communist ideology: willingness to serve the
people whole-heartedly; placement of collective
interests above self-interest
58
Public Sector
Leaders in China

Servant leadership behaviors reported:
 Putting people first; assisting subordinates
 Ethical behavior
 Moral (agapao) love, caring for others
 Conceptual skills, organizational knowledge
 Humility, not seeking public attention
 Building long-term relationships, knowing
and supporting others
59
Public Sector
Leaders in China


Three types specific to Chinese context:
 Being dutiful
 Devotion to Party policies and state laws
 Listening
Western perceptions not found:
 Creating value for the community
 Empowering, persuasive mapping
 Transcendent spirituality
60
Republic of Ghana



Article by Hale and Fields, published in
Leadership (2007) comparing seminary students
in Ghana and the United States
In earlier periods of Ghana’s history, kings were
expected to be servants to the clan or tribe
Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africans want
leaders who are strategy and goal-directed,
demonstrating good character, competency,
compassion, justice and wholeness
61
Republic of Ghana
Respondents from Ghana reported servant
leadership behaviors less frequently
 There is a high power difference; people in
power are viewed as being different than
others (visionaries, not “first among equals”)
 In-group members expect preferential
treatment (not concerned with building a
larger community with out-group members)

62
Republic of Ghana
Development of followers was not consistent
with leadership behavior norms in Ghana
 Building relationships among co-workers was
not consistent with in-group behavior in
Ghana
 There were no significant differences in the
effects of service and humility between
Ghanaian and American sub-samples

63
Bedouin-Arab Culture
Article by Yasin Khalaf Sarayrah, “Servant
Leadership in the Bedouin-Arab Culture,”
Global Virtue Ethics Review (2004)
 Main elements of servant leadership were
present in early Arab culture
 In traditional Bedouin desert society, the
chief was seen as an equal and not a boss

67
Bedouin-Arab Culture
Even Prophet Mohammed consulted with
his followers when there was no revelation
 In the following hadith, Prophet
Mohammed urged Muslim leaders to be
servant-leaders:
“Verily, each of you is a shepherd, and
each of you is responsible for the well
being of the flock.”

67
Bedouin-Arab Culture

The second Caliph, Omar Bin al-Khattab (7th
century) was a servant leader
 Was able to listen and accept criticism
 Planned and organized new Islamic state
 Promoted the participation of others in
decision making
 Empathized with others; supported the
poor; provided pensions for soldiers
66
Bedouin-Arab Culture
Over the centuries, the original simple desert
Arab/Islamic norms and values were
abandoned or given new meaning
 However, in the 20th century, areas of South
and East Jordan retained the traditions
 Tribal proverb regarding hospitality: “The
youngest is the servant and the one who rules
is likewise the servant.”

67
Studies of Leadership
in Various Cultures
68
Servant Leadership
Across Cultures
Fons Trompenaars and Ed Voerman, 2009
 Dilemmas for leaders: Leading vs. serving,
rules vs. exceptions, parts vs. the whole,
control vs. passion, specific vs. diffuse, shortterm vs. long-term, and push vs. pull
 THT: Cultural values of 90,000 people, with
8,000 dilemmas validated by 1,500 interviews

69
Servant Leadership
Across Cultures
Different countries and cultures lean in
different directions regarding the dilemmas
 Organizational structure: (A) so everyone
knows who is in charge or (B) so everyone
knows how tasks are divided and coordinated
 B = 44% in Venezuela, 66% in Romania,
80% in Russia, 92% in USA, 100% in
Malaysia, South Africa, and Denmark

70
Servant Leadership
Across Cultures
The authors argue that servant leadership
deals with the leadership dilemmas by
paradoxically combining the elements
 That is why servant leadership can be
successfully implemented all over the world
 Problems with this study: dilemmas are not
paradoxes; choices not combinations

71
GLOBE Study
“Global Leadership and Organizational
Behavior Effectiveness” was a 62-nation, 11year study involving 170 researchers
worldwide.
 Data were collected from 17,300 middle
managers from 951 organizations
 The first report was more than 800 pages

72
GLOBE Study

One of the most important questions
addressed by the GLOBE research team
concerned the extent to which the practices
and values associated with leadership are
universal (i.e., are similar worldwide), and the
extent to which they are specific to just a few
societies
73
GLOBE Study Findings
 The
study found a set of “culturally
endorsed leadership theory dimensions”
 Those six CLT’s were:
 Charismatic/value-based,
team oriented,
participative, humane oriented, selfprotective, and autonomous
74
GLOBE Study Findings

All cultures saw the charismatic/value-based
dimension as contributing to outstanding
leadership. This included the leader’s ability
to inspire, motivate, and expect high
performance outcomes on the basis of his or
her firmly held core values.
 This included self-sacrifice, integrity, decisive,
and performance oriented.
75
GLOBE Study Findings
All cultures saw team orientation as
contributing substantially to outstanding
leadership.
 This emphasized effective team-building
and implementation of a common purpose
or goal among team members.

76
GLOBE Study Findings
Germanic Europe most positively
associated participative with outstanding
leadership.
 Humane oriented (supportive and considerate
leadership, including compassion) was
viewed as only moderately contributing to
outstanding leadership.

77
GLOBE Study Findings
Self-protective (self-centered, status
conscious, face-saver, conflict-inducer,
procedural) was viewed as not contributing
to outstanding leadership
 Autonomous (independent and
individualistic) was viewed as not
contributing to outstanding leadership.

78
GLOBE Study and
Servant Leadership
Charistmatic/value based and team oriented are
seen by all cultures as contributing
substantially to outstanding leadership
 These characteristics are consistent with
servant leadership, so these aspects of
servant leadership may work worldwide

79
GLOBE Study and
Servant Leadership
Participative and humane oriented are
consistent with servant leadership but are
viewed by only some cultures as
contributing to outstanding leadership
 Self-protective and autonomous are contrary to
servant leadership and are viewed as not
contributing to outstanding leadership

80
GLOBE Study and
Servant Leadership
The GLOBE study was not a study of
servant leadership, but servant leadership is
consistent with the views of all cultures
regarding what does and what does not
contribute to outstanding leadership
 The “middle ground” reveals variations by
culture

81
Future potential
Servant-leadership will be the accepted
standard for all leaders because it is the most
ethical, practical, meaningful way to lead
 Servant-leadership will be accepted as the
best way to get results because the results are
achieved by serving individuals, organizations,
and society at large (creating shared value)

82
Future potential




Growing people will be understood to be a
highly strategic core responsibility of leaders
Servant leadership will be demanded by many
milennials, who will change the workplace
Servant leadership principles will help change
the world by its adoption in many countries
Some challenges that go beyond national
boundaries will be successfully addressed
83
Questions…
Comments…
84
Thank you!
85